Osseshin
Setting Osseshin is a language spoken in the fictional Asia region called Ossettastan by most of the world, and Ossetta by it's inhabitants. The region is located just south of Russia, with it's northern border along a section of the Don river, and part of the Sea of Azov. It is a cold climate, similar to an alpine climate. Due to recent modernization beginning in the 1970s, they have begun to split into 2 separate groups, who have parts of their cultures slightly departing, but they not at odds. The first group is the tribal Osseshins, who had the original culture. They live on and in the mountains themselves, and have used supplies to modernize the caves a little, but their primary mode of obtaining food is still to hunt, giving them a stereotype of being primitive. The second group are Village Osseshins who have established villages along the bases of mountains throughout the region. Though they are a peaceful culture, with very little fighting between tribes, they can be particularly warlike, and brutally destroy invaders. Phonology IPA is in between slashed, and the phonetic version is in brackets. Vowels A - /a/ in Father E - /e/ in Tape Ih - /ɪ/ in pit I - /aI/ in Time Y - /i/ in Machine O - /o/ in Bone U - /u/ in Tube R - /ɹ/ R (It is only pronounced that way when it is a vowel, and it is only a vowel when it is in between two consonants) Phonotactics Basic Grammar Stress First Syllable is stressed, unless marked. If the first vowel is R, the next vowel is stressed, unless marked. If a vowel is marked with an acute accent, that is the new point of stress. If a vowel is marked with a Diaeresis, it means that syllable is stressed, along with the primary. Note: you are able to use the acute accent and diaeresis in the same word, but not on the same letter. Another exception is that when there are two vowels in a row where the stress is, put it on the second one. Example: Riek (Live long) the accent is on the E. Primary Á é í ó ú ý ŕ Secondary Ä ë ï ö ü ÿ ȑ Syllable Structure The syllable structure in Osseshin is ©VC©. Remember that R can be both a vowel and consonant depending on whether it is surrounded by consonants. E.g. Vrt(Speed) works, but Rt would not work. Syntax Osseshin is a VSO language, which means the verb comes first, then the subject, then the direct object. In cases where it is needed, the indirect object follows the direct object. Also, adjectives and adverbs come after the word they describe, and prepositional phrases come after the word or phrase they describe as well. Nouns Nouns are declined by noun class, number, and case. The three noun classes are: Consonant Endings, -A endings, and -I endings. Pronouns Personal Pronouns : Ambiguous singular is the equivalent of "Somebody/Someone" and plural is the equivalent of "Some People". Demonstrative : The demonstrative pronouns are declined according to the noun class and plurality, but they are not affected by the case. Noun Declension The tilde in the accusative case means that letter X turns into the letter Y in X~Y. So A~Ja means that the final A turns into Ja. Verbs Verbs are conjugated mainly by tense, and whether an action was a single action, or multiple. The latter has no strict rule on how to decide which one, but it is usually obvious and left to individual judgement. Verbs also have an internal vowel mutation rule for the imperative, and has a suffix for the participle. Tense : In Osseshin, verbs take on a suffix that shows the tense. Tense is fairly simple, as verbs are not affected by noun class, person, number, etc. These go immediately after the verb, as opposed to the progressive and participle, which go after the tense. Action Plurality : Verbs take on a prefix to tell whether the verb is a single action, or multiple actions/a continuous act. There are no strict rules on which is which, and it is left up to the speaker. Osseshins usually have no trouble with this, and it may represent itself as a noticeable difference to a person you have just met if you use it differently, but it is accepted as something natural. Note. Not applicable to the present tense. Participle, Gerund, and Progressive : As stated before, the Participle and Progressive are both represented as suffixes which come after the tense. Infinitive To create the infinitive, you just you the original verb form. Moods Mutations In Osseshin, moods are shown by vowel mutation, in which the specific vowel for that word is changed into a set of 2 vowels. The rule is as follows: To find which vowel is to be mutated, you find the number of syllables. If it is an odd number, the middle syllable is mutated. If it is an even number, which means the center is in between to syllables and not on one, you use the antemedian(The syllable before the dividing line in between the two. Indicative The Indicative mood is the standard mood that verbs come in. You use the indicative mood by simply leaving the verb without the mutation. Imperative : To create the imperative, you take the infinitive, and you mutate the vowel you are supposed to(how to find which it is is described below). Note: The R in the vowel mutation is as it was before, and not trilled. Subjunctive : The Subjunctive Case in Osseshin typically is used for several different purposes. The main one is to express not being sure, or in an English comparison(Subjunctive in brackets): He verb or he have verbed, etc. The other main use is when talking about an action of whose subject whose existence is unsure or non-existent: Would a winged monkey able to fly. Adjectives Adjectives are to agree with the noun they describe in number and case by adding the ending or changed ending(in the case of the A and I accusative, and the plural A genitive) to the root adjective. Demonstrative : The demonstrative adjectives have four different classes that they decline to. The proximal is when the object is close to the speaker, and may be close to the addressee. The Medial class, is when the object is close to the addressee, but not to the speaker. The third, is the distal, and it is used when the object is far from both the speaker and addressee. The final class, is the referential, and it is used when the object you are talking about isn't necessarily something in the vicinity, but you are referring to something you previously named in the sentence. Nota Bene: The proximal, medial, and distal have no voiced consonants because of their usage while hunting. In order to keep quiet, they would only whisper, so the words evolved with no voiced consonants. The referential has voiced because usually when it was used, there was no need for silence. Dictionary Nouns Oss- Snow Etta- Land Ranun- Hell Gadi- Armor Mjetér- Metro Krihlya- Wing Vrt- Speed Travka- Marijuana Votchka- Girl Malch- Boy Dyhenýth- Death Reta- Response Dal- Appearance Fynd- Hope Arsh- Reverence Abis- Nothing Nji- Pants Shintet- World Kolor- Entirety Geti- Language Grozh- Noun Dȑkazhíhn- Verb Azahäv- Adjectives Myso- Thought Avŕti - Covenant Apav- Year Adjectives Staraj-Old Defor-Young Olks- Old Hejn- New Chyor- Black Bel- White Ven- Clean Do'ar- Dirty Fvjet- Tight Gohar- Loose Wehr-Green Kadyev- Dark Fyodor- Light Samar- Dead Vyr- Strange Verbs Kun- To be Vŕket- To have Ekrýzh- To do Ikr- To eat Gundjer- To sleep Idov- To drink Gihat- To put Goi- To run Detsij- To keep Veli- To walk Fezh- To go Fid- To come Ihnk- To evoke Ohad- To look at Trvot- to wear Rek- To live long Mjozh- To like Kokihtyl- To know Gaflun- To cheat Avlar- to speak Makrak- to be able Morig- to stretch Gityg- to lie Maru- to die Other Ok- And Fjor- immediately Gadoy- suspiciously Rikryzh- forever Tarmiev- also Cov- with Vaz- except Kje- that (The X that blanked Y) Ket- which Mjuna- In(Non-Loaction, "in the knowledge" or "in the group") Njet- No/Not Example text Category:Languages